ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

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1 The Relative Study of Social Support, Job Satisfaction and Wellbeing of Military Instructors- The Case of High Schools Military Instructors in Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan Districts of Taiwan Shu-Hung Hsu, Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Nanhua University, Taiwan Kuo-Chung Huang, Professor, Department of Business Administration, Nanhua University, Taiwan Kuo-Sue Huang, MBA, Department of Business Administration, Nanhua University, Taiwan ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of social support to job satisfaction and wellbeing of high schools military The job satisfaction had a sense of mediating effect between social support and wellbeing. The samples were chosen military instructors of high schools in Yulin, Chiayi, and Tainan of Taiwan. There were 396 questionnaires sent to samples and 308 collected with 289 valid. The valid response rate was 73%. The study results found that high schools military instructors with social support had impact on their job satisfaction and wellbeing, and job satisfaction had a mediating effect on social support and wellbeing. Therefore, there were the relationship among social support, job satisfaction and wellbeing. Keywords: Military Instructors, Social Support, Job Satisfaction, Wellbeing INTRODUCTION Today, the high school military training instructors face rapid social change in chaos educational environment. Under this pressure, they must constantly improve the professional competence in order to keep their jobs. Military instructors are also face challenges for their access on wellbeing, social support and job satisfaction. Caplan and Killilea (1976) pointed out that social support helped individual to face the challenges, pressures and difficulties, and to help cushion the pressure of life. The social support of military training instructors has a significant impact on their wellbeing. Davis (1951) indicated that job satisfaction can lead a higher interest on their job that would bring wellbeing (Lu, 1999). Therefore, Military training instructor s wellbeing is influence by their social support and job satisfaction. The purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship among social support, job satisfaction and wellbeing of high school military Investigate the effects of social support on the job satisfaction of high school military Investigate the effect of the job satisfaction on the wellbeing of high school military training Investigate the effects of social support on the wellbeing of high school military The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 10 Number 1, February,

2 LITERATURE REVIEW Social Support Caplan (1974) proposed social support means that when an individual experiencing stress and problems, family members, friends, neighbors around the relevant person was able to provide individuals a variety of different forms of assistance and support. The social support contained physical, psychological, information, tools, materials and money, to give individual guidance and appropriate comfort and shelter (Caplan, 1974). Moos (1976) mentioned social support was an accepted, loved and feeling of being needed. Cohen and Wills (1985) believed when the individual faced with pressure from life, it will form a threat to an individual's self-esteem, leading to the generation of powerlessness. If the individual has a positive social relations, will enable a more balanced individual psychologically, and reduce the negative state of mind. Social network not only provide emotional support and individual self-affirmation of the value, but also provide the individual courage to face life's changes and challenges in life (Cohen & Wills, 1985). Brown (1974) mentioned informal social support includes family, friends, peers, neighbors and so on. Kim, Price, Mueller and Watson (1996) noted that social support can be divided into three parts, namely, peer support, supervisor support and family support. This study was divided into three military instructors sources of social support, including school executive support, peer and colleagues support, friends and family support. Job Satisfaction Hoppock (1935) raise workers' job satisfaction that was a subjective feeling of work situations, including physical and psychological levels. Adams (1965) considered worker's job satisfaction that was perceived depends on the individual inputs (such as time, experience, money, education, work, technology etc.) and outputs (such as status, salary, promotion, honor and welfare). The individual was not only a measure of their status and also measure the position of others. Locke (1969) indicated that job satisfaction factors can be categorized into events and actors. Work event included the work itself, compensation and the environment. The actors were the actors themselves, or the other person in organization or outside the organization. Maslow (1943) proposed that the motivation hierarchy of needs theory which considered human behavior caused by the five kinds of demand, followed by a low and high, including physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs that may influence on their job satisfaction. This study focused on two dimensions of job satisfaction, "inner satisfaction" and "extrinsic satisfaction" to measure job satisfaction. Wellbeing Diener (1984) pointed out that wellbeing was a subjective experience of feelings. An individual with positive cognitive perspective on things will be naturally with a positive attitude to explain on things, which would get the result of an overall assessment of life. Ryff (1995) mentioned that wellbeing is not just to be wellbeing, but also included their full potential and achieve the perfect experience. Buss (2000) indicated that wellbeing was a personal right moment or life experience, a sense of self-realization, and a continual feeling of enjoyable life. Ryan and Deci (2001) proposed that wellbeing was not only an emotion positive subjective experience, but also individual perceive energy sources resilience and deep sense of security experience. 42 The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 10 Number 1, February, 2015

3 Social Support, Job Satisfaction and Wellbeing Larocco and Jones (1978) pointed out that social support for job satisfaction has a significant main effects and interactions. Boss support and specific job satisfaction has highly relevance. Locke (1976) indicated that employees can appreciate immediate supervisor, giving encouragement to perform well, and to listen to the supervisor voices of goodwill, staff satisfaction will relatively increase. Therefore, this study suggested that social support of military instructors has a significant impact on their job satisfaction. There is a high conflict between workers with families when their job satisfaction and wellbeing will be decreased. Job satisfaction can effectively predict the level of wellbeing. Therefore, military instructors of job satisfaction have a significant impact on wellbeing. Cohen (1985) considered that acceptable social support can enhance wellbeing. Teachers were with high social support, can get the better work performance, and the better feeling of wellbeing. Social support was positively correlated with wellbeing. The study proposed social support of military training instructors has significant effects on their wellbeing. Linqian (2014) studied the status of high school military training instructors social support and job satisfaction. The study pointed out that the high school military instructors social support was highly related to their job satisfaction. Mao (2014) studied that the workers' job satisfaction found their job satisfaction and wellbeing are positively correlated, and job satisfaction can effectively predict the level of wellbeing. Based on the above findings, this study inferred social support affects individual job satisfaction. The individual's social support is high that can calmly face the challenges, and improve its job satisfaction and wellbeing. This study proposed that social support can adjust the individual job satisfaction, and thus enhance the individual's wellbeing. Military instructors wellbeing and social support was mediated by job satisfaction. Hypothesize To achieve the study to understand the current high school military training instructors social support, job satisfaction and wellbeing. According to literatures, established research structure and inference assumptions were as follows: H1: Social supports of military instructors have the significant impact on job satisfaction of military H2: Job satisfactions of military instructors have the significant impact on wellbeing of military H3: Social supports of military instructors have the significant impact on wellbeing of military H4: Job satisfactions of military instructors have the mediating effect on social support and wellbeing of military METHODOLOGY Measurement In this study, there were three variables, namely, social support, job satisfaction and wellbeing. The measurement for each variable as follows: This study was used Social Support Scale (Social Support Questionnaire, SSQ) to test social support that was originally prepared by Sarason, Levine and Basham (1983). The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 10 Number 1, February,

4 This study was used "Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire" to test job satisfaction that was according to Weiss, Davis, England and Lofgurist (1967). The surveying was retrieved and chooses suitable questions for military training instructors job satisfaction. In this study, to test wellbeing was according to Argyle (1987) the Oxford Happiness Scale (Oxford Happiness Inventory). The scoring scale was adopted Likert five-point scale, scoring from "strongly disagree", "disagree", "no opinion", "agree", and "strongly agree". There were given a 1,2,3,4,5 scores, higher scores represent military instructors feel the current level of variables, higher, and vice versa on the current level of variables, lower feelings. The statistical software version SPSS18 was used to test data, to analysis the scale reliability. Reliability analysis was measured results obtained degree of consistency. The questionnaire modified after pre-test reliability analysis, some of questionnaire items retained and some deleted. Samples The study chooses 50 high school military training instructors of southwest regional of Taiwan to participate the pre-test. Military instructors of high schools in Yulin, Chiayi, and Tainan of Taiwan were chosen as the samples. RESULTS The study was used SPSS18 to test and analysis data, and used convenience sampling approach to collect data. There were 396 questionnaires sent and 308 collected with 289 valid. The effective response rate was 73%. According to the Cronbach's value and selection criteria proposed by the Guieford (1965), considered α value greater than or equal to 0.7 which means the high degree of faith and a good questionnaire design. If α value was between 0.35 and 0.7, which means that the questionnaire can be accepted, if less than 0.35, questionnaire required correction. In this study, the reliability analysis for social support, the Cronbach's α coefficient was The reliability analysis for job satisfaction, the Cronbach's α coefficient was The reliability analysis for wellbeing, the Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.956, as shown in Table 1. Overall, the confidence level of each dimension more than 0.7 was acceptable level. Overall, the pre-test questionnaire items in each dimension have good reliability. Table 1: Reliability of Variables Variables Cronbach s α Dimensions Cronbach s α School Executive Social Supports Family Friends Peer Colleague Job Satisfactions Intrinsic Satisfaction Extrinsic Satisfaction Self-affirmation Wellbeing Physical and mental health Life Satisfaction The SPSS18 statistical analysis was used to conduct descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis to test data results for this study. The results were as the following: 44 The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 10 Number 1, February, 2015

5 This study conducted a descriptive analysis of the sample structure, in order to understand each demographic of the Southwest region of high school military training instructors, the results shown in Table 2. Table 2: Descriptive Analysis of the Sample Demographic Items Number Percentage % Gender Male Female Age Over Under Years of service Above Cadets Education Bachelor Master Single Marital status Married Others Number of Children Above Public High School School Type Public vocational Private high schools Private Vocational The number of instructors Above Captain Order Level Major Colonel General instructors Position Health Auxiliary Leader Director instructors 26 9 Correlation Analysis Social supports of military instructors have the significant impact on job satisfaction of military From Table 3 shows the high school military training instructors social support and job satisfaction positive correlation, reached significant levels (r = 0.576, p <.001), and the dimensions also shown significant positive correlation. The results shown high school military training instructor s social support positive correlation to job satisfaction. Overall, social support was higher; the job satisfaction was also higher. Therefore, H1 was supported. The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 10 Number 1, February,

6 Table 3: Correlation Analysis of Social Support and Job Satisfaction Social Support Job Satisfaction Overall Intrinsic Satisfaction Extrinsic Satisfaction Overall 0.576*** 0.570*** 0.446*** School Executive 0.446*** 0.412*** 0.380*** Family Friends 0.456*** 0.504*** 0.290*** Peer Colleague 0.515*** 0.492*** 0.419*** Job satisfactions of military instructors have the significant impact on wellbeing of military The high school military training instructors job satisfaction and wellbeing were highly correlated, and reached significant levels (r = 0.793, p <.001), and the dimensions also showed significant positive correlation, as shown in Table 4. The results shown high school military training instructors job satisfaction was positively correlated to wellbeing. Therefore, with a higher job satisfaction, wellbeing was also higher. Therefore, H2 was supported. Table 4: Correlation Analysis of Job Satisfaction and Wellbeing Job Satisfaction Wellbeing Overall Self-affirmation Physical and mental health Life Satisfaction Overall 0.793*** 0.720*** 0.669*** 0.706*** Intrinsic Satisfaction 0.809*** 0.758*** 0.629*** 0.737*** Extrinsic Satisfaction 0.584*** 0.504*** 0.555*** 0.501*** Social supports of military instructors have the significant impact on wellbeing of military From Table 5, high school military training instructors social support and wellbeing shown with a positive correlation, and reached significant levels (r = 0.560, p <.001), and the dimensions also shown significant positive correlation. The results shown social support positively correlated with wellbeing. The social support of high school military training instructors was higher, their wellbeing was higher. Therefore, H3 was supported. Table 5: Correlation Analysis of Social Support and Wellbeing Social Support Wellbeing Overall Self-affirmation Physical and mental health Life Satisfaction Overall 0.560*** 0.526*** 0.419*** 0.527*** School Executive 0.387*** 0.360*** 0.323*** 0.333*** Family Friends 0.482*** 0.471*** 0.328*** 0.454*** Peer Colleague 0.523*** 0.475*** 0.380*** 0.535*** Regression Analysis Social supports of military instructors have the significant impact on job satisfaction of military Table 6 shown, social support for job satisfaction R² was 0.332, F value of , reached 46 The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 10 Number 1, February, 2015

7 significant levels p <.001, and standardized β value of Therefore, social support to job satisfaction had significant influenced. The high school military training instructors with a higher social support, job satisfaction was higher. To enhance social support of high school military training instructors can improve their job satisfaction. Therefore, H1 was supported. Table 6: Regression Analysis of Social Support and Job Satisfaction Dimensions Coefficient β R 2 Adj.R 2 F P Social Support to Job Satisfaction *** Job Satisfaction to wellbeing *** Social Support to wellbeing *** Job satisfactions of military instructors have the significant impact on wellbeing of military Table 6 shown, job satisfactions to wellbeing R² was 0.628, F value of , reached significant levels p <.001, and standardized β value of Therefore, job satisfaction to wellbeing had significant influenced. The high school military training instructors with higher job satisfaction can own better wellbeing feeling. To enhance high school military training instructors job satisfaction will improve their better degree of wellbeing. Therefore, H2 was supported. Social supports of military instructors have the significant impact on wellbeing of military Table 6 shown, social support to wellbeing R² of 0.314, F value of , reached significant levels p <.001, and standardized β value of Therefore, social support had significant influence on wellbeing. The high school military training instructors with a higher social support had better wellbeing feeling. The high school military training instructors social support enhanced can improve their better degree of wellbeing. Therefore, H3 was supported. Job satisfactions of military instructors have the mediating effect on social support and wellbeing of military Mode 1: social support to job satisfaction, and its standardized β was 0.576, reached significant results p <0.001, meet social support had a significant impact on job satisfaction, as shown in Table 7. Mode 2: wellbeing as dependent variables impacted by independent variables social support and job satisfaction. The results found that social support had a significant positive effect (β = 0.560, p <0.001) on wellbeing; job satisfaction was a significant positive effected on wellbeing (β = 0.793, p <0.001). It shown the independent variables (social support) have the significantly affected on dependent variable (wellbeing), and mediating by mediator variables (job satisfaction), as shown in Table 7. Mode 3: the results found an mediator variables (job satisfaction) was added, the independent variable (social support) on the dependent variable (happiness) reached a significant level of regression coefficient (β = 0.155, p <0.001), independent variables (social support) from the original standardized coefficient decreased to To join mediating variables (job satisfaction) on the dependent variable (wellbeing), reached a significant level of regression coefficient (β = 0.703, p <0.001), showed a mediating effect. Therefore, the hypothesis 4 "job satisfaction" of military training instructors has mediating effect between "social support" and "wellbeing, as displayed in Table 7. H4 was supported. The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 10 Number 1, February,

8 Table7: Regression Analysis of Social Support, Job Satisfaction and Wellbeing Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Job Satisfaction Wellbeing Wellbeing Social Support 0.576*** 0.560*** 0.155*** Job Satisfaction 0.793*** 0.703*** R Adj.R F P 0.000*** 0.000*** 0.000*** 0.000*** According to the above data analysis, the test results of hypotheses as shown in Table 8. Table 8: The Results of Hypotheses Hypotheses H1: Social supports of military instructors have the significant impact on job satisfaction of military H2: Job satisfactions of military instructors have the significant impact on wellbeing of military H3: Social supports of military instructors have the significant impact on wellbeing of military H4: Job satisfactions of military instructors have the mediating effect on social support and wellbeing of military Results Support Support Support Support (Partially Mediated) DISCUSSION In this study, social support had a significant positive effect on job satisfaction. The results show that the social support of Taiwan southwest regions of high school military instructors had a significant positive effect on their job satisfaction. The results indicated relatively with a high social support, and then job satisfaction was high. A spouse, parents or siblings in the family given the high level of support to soldiers that make them no worries at work or on duty, then can enhance their job satisfaction. Savery (1998) indicated that supportive by supervisor behaviors can increase employee job satisfaction. Therefore, if military instructors receive supervisors or family members supported, they will be able to enhance their job satisfaction. In this study, job satisfaction had a significant positive effect on wellbeing. The results show that the Taiwan southwest region of the high school military instructors job satisfaction had significant positive effect on wellbeing, and a moderate positive correlation. To enhance job satisfaction of practice will be able to enhance military training instructors happiness feelings. To achieve military instructors satisfaction from their work will has a higher sense of happiness. The results show that social support to military instructors had a significant positive effect on wellbeing. The results indicated a relatively high social support to a high happiness and performance. The family gives comfort and assistance, peer colleagues and school executives give care to military instructors that can enhance their encouragement. The higher levels of social support can effectively enhance their job satisfaction, and thus enhance the degree of feelings of wellbeing. Therefore, military instructors social support has a positive impact on their job satisfaction and wellbeing. 48 The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 10 Number 1, February, 2015

9 Limitation and Future Study This study has limited on the Taiwan Southwest region, and the issues focused on social support, job satisfaction, and wellbeing of military The future study will broader sampling area and to study different issue to effect on military instructors performance. REFERENCES Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp ). New York: Academic Press. Argyle, M. (1987). The Psychology of Happiness. New York: Routledge. Brown, G. W. (1974). Meaning, measurement, and stress of life events. In B. S. Dohrenwend & B. P. Dohrenwend, (Eds.). Stressful Life Events: Their Nature and Effects. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Buss, D. M. (2000). The evolution of happiness. American Psychologist, Vol.55, pp Caplan, G. & Killilea, M. (1976). Support Systems & Mutual Help. New York: Grune & Stratton. Caplan, G. (1974). Support systems and community mental health lectures on conceptual. New York: Behavioral. Cohen, S. & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, Vol.98(2), pp Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The what and why of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, (11), pp Diener, E., Suh, E. N., Lucas, R. E. & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being:three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, No.125, pp Guieford, J. P. (1965). Fundamental statistics in phycology and education. McGraw-Hill, New York. Hoppock (1935), Job satisfaction. New York:Harper and Brother. Kim, S. W., Price, J. L. Mueller, C. W. & Watson, T. W. (1996). The determinants of career intent among physicians at a U.S, Air Force hospital, Human Relations, (49,)7, pp LaRocco, J. M. & Jones A. P. (1978). Coworker and leader support: as moderators of stree-strain relationships in work situations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63, Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Chicago: Rand McNally. Lu, L. (1999). Personal or environmental causes of happiness: A longitudinal analysis. The Journal of Social Psychology,139(1), pp Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of Being. Princeton: VanNostrand. Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper & Row. Moos, R. H. ( 1976 ). The human context: Environmental Determinants of Behavior. New York:John Wiley & Sons. Ryff, C. D. (1995). Psychological well-being in adult life. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, Sarason, I. G. Levine, H. M., Basham, R. B. & Sarason, B. R. (1983). Assessing social support: The social support questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, (44)1, pp Sarason, I. G., Sarason, B. R. & Pierce, G. R. (1990). Social support, personality, and performance. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, (2), pp Savery, J. R. (1998). Toward a theory of ownership for learning. Paper presented at the meeting of American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA. Weiss, D.J., Davis., R.V., England, G.W., & Lofgurist, L.H. (1967). Manual for the Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Industrial Relations Center. The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 10 Number 1, February,